Mission: Together
by dhbPATHWAY1997
Summary: Back to the days of the Marauders! A classic story in which James is desperate to win Lily Evans' heart. But a certain irritating sixth year is getting in the way. But now when it's been better, things are getting dangerous for Lily...
1. Light in the Shadow

Chapter 1: Ditching It

James' POV

They laugh. But they don't understand. How could they? Sirius: Women are like underwear. I don't wish to give an explanation. Remus: Eh, he's got enough problems of his _own_. Peter: Okay, social outcast but for us.

How are they to know that I'm absolutely serious? I don't just want to shack up with her in a broom cupboard. I don't just want to date and ditch. I'm not looking for something I can't have. Well, I _am _looking for something I can't have, but not just because I can't have her…Lily Pot—er, Evans. Lily Evans. I am completely and utterly in love with her, to the point of disaster.

And, she notices me. Oh, why does she have to notice me? I am noticed for the wrong reasons. I am not exactly…shy. Ha! Shy! ME! Yeah, no. Not ever. I have played so many pranks, humiliated so many people, and said so many of the wrong things that I don't think there isn't ONE person in the whole of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that hasn't heard my name, or have been made fun of by me, including teachers. Unfortunately, that includes Lily. She hates me. Maybe. I don't really know, because I usually don't stick around to find out after a prank has been played. One night, I decided this was it. She WOULD be mine, Snivellus would leave her alone, and we would run off into the sunset with one of the unicorns that lived on the Eastern edge of the Forbidden Forest. Well, okay. I've only seen a couple of those unicorns, and they might've already migrated by now. Yeah, it's January. They're as good as gone. As I was saying, this was the final straw.

"Guys, I think I want out." I told them.

"Well, I think we would all ditch the Transfiguration homework if we could, mate," Remus laughed. See? I told you they laughed.

"But McGonagall would have our hides if we skipped even one night, you know that." Sirius added.

"No, mates," I told them, attempting to explain. "I mean I don't…I don't want any more pranks, at least not by me."

"WHAT?" There was a group gasp and the dramatic _WHAT? _From the two other Marauders came shocked looks. "W-what d-do you mean…no more pranks?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Well, Padfoot, we've had a good run, but…I've got more important things to do."

"Such as…?" Sirius trailed off suggestively. Then they both gasped again.

"LILY EVANS!" Remus and Sirius exploded in unison.

"He just wants to ditch us to go in pursuit of a _girl_!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well, no!" I said defensively. "Not you guys! Just our—"

"Tomfoolery? Shenanigans? Troublemaking? There are lots of things that the teachers have called what we do," Remus suggested.

"Guys, don't take this so hard!" I exclaimed, surprised at their reaction. "I'm not ditching _you._ I'm ditching the behavior that's taking me even farther away from the possibility of there being a relationship between me and Lily. I just…you wouldn't understand. You really wouldn't." I said sadly. I got up from the table and walked to the stairs to the dormitory. But I paused near the door, just to see if they had more of a reaction that they didn't want me to see.

They did. "Can you believe that git?" Sirius blew up. Remus didn't say anything, just looked shocked at my empty seat at the table we'd been doing our homework on.

"Actually, I can guess what he's trying to say." Remus remarked calmly. "What did you get for number six?"

"Um…wardrobes. But WHAT? You can UNDERSTAND this moron?"

"Well think about it. Lily always takes offense to our pranks, even if they're not directed at her. Probably because she _has _been the victim before. Oh, and thanks, that question was weird."

"No problem. You're siding with the traitor? I mean, you make sense, but don't you WANT James to stick around?"

"Of course I do. What kind of question is that? He's my friend, too, you know?"

"Yeah, sorry. But you can see why I feel strongly about this, right, Moony?" Sirius asked Remus imploringly.

"Yeah. I s'pose."

"And James is a—"

"Wait, hold up a sec, Pads!"

"No, lemme talk. He just wants—"

"NO, really, Padfoot! Maybe—"

"Jeez, no!"

"Will you just shut up a second?" Remus bellowed quite loudly.

I got tired of standing outside the dorm door and just went inside, but casting a charm to increase my hearing ability to still make out what the Marauders were saying. "Okay, now that everyone is _staring, Sirius,_" Remus said scathingly. "Let me explain my idea." Moony must've put a Silencing Charm on Sirius, because he'd shut up. "We want James to stay, right? He said he would, he just won't pull anything. What was his explanation? He wants Lily and him to be together, and maybe if they _were_, he would have fun with us again." Remus removed the Silencing Charm and Sirius spoke.

"That…might work…" I could practically hear his mind working. Boy, his hamster was slow. "If we could get them together, James might be more willing to spend time with us like he usually does?"

"That's my thinking. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Let's get to work!"

"But we're doing—"

"I'm already finished."

"What?"

"I already finished Transfiguration. Just copy."

"Oh, thanks. Well then, yeah. Let's plan! What shall we call this plan?"

"Hmm… Mission: Together."

"A fitting name," Sirius agreed. They said it together: "Mission: Together."

"It sounds… Muggle-ish!"

I laughed at the ridiculousness of my two best friends.

Remus' POV

Sirius and I shook on our new plan. Only then did I realize how hard this might actually be… Lily _hated _James. Hated him with a heated passion. The question was: Could we turn that passionate dislike in to passionate _love?_ Eh, I doubted it. But it was probably worth a try anyway. Not only that, but I'm sure that after Sirius told James about Mission: Together, James would kill us both if we didn't at least try.

"So what's our first plan?" Padfoot asked me. I was silent. "Oh, come on, mate! We're the Marauders! We can do this! Probably…" he looked back down at his homework. "Would number seventeen be '_Ferreverto?_' That seems weird, we learned that in our second year!"

"No, Pads, drop the homework for a second. We can ask Frank for help later. What _will _we do?" Sirius pushed the homework aside, dropping his pencil with it. He shrugged, looking like he had no ideas but really didn't care, either.

"Well, we can't exactly have them go out for a moonlit dinner, now can we? She'd never say yes. We have to screw all the traditional stuff, just skip it."

"Hmm…What if we throw in just a _little _tradition?"

"What…do you mean…?" he asked, confused.

"We have to go tell James, grab your bag." We grabbed our stuff and jumped off from the table and ran upstairs.

When we got upstairs, James was lying on the bed reading _Quidditch Today _and was the picture of relaxation in his softest pajamas, legs crossed with one foot carelessly hanging off the edge of the bed.

"James!" Sirius and I cried at the same time. "We had an idea!"

"Yeah, I know. Mission: Together."

"How did you…?"

"Hearing-Enhancement Charm," he told us, bored.

"Oh," Sirius looked disappointed.

"Well, so what do you think?" I asked, still excited.

"I think that we're all ignorant and void of ideas," James said dully.

"Right. Well, as much as that might be true, I think this is worth a try. I thought you would be the most excited about this!"

"Oh, believe me, I am. I'm just feeling…hopeless."

"WAIT!" Sirius was jumping up and down. "I've got an idea!"

"Crap," James and I said together. When Sirius had an idea, we would either end up in detention with Filch or covered in jelly. I, for one, preferred the jelly.

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or else I'd be very rich.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay! My very first James/Lily story! Next chapter should be up soon, while I'm still working on my other story, "Debris." Yes, that's sorta free advertising. This chapter's kind of short, sorry. Next one shall be longer. How do you like it? Any suggestions? PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Obnoxious Meets Annoyed

Chapter 2: Obnoxious Meets Annoyed

Lily's POV

If there were someone who wanted to be my friend, there would be one thing they would have to know about me: I desperately loathe, hate, and _despise_ James Potter. The sight of him made my skin crawl, just to see him run his hand through that messy hair, to smirk with triumph when Sev would be hoisted from his ankles from a tree, to laugh mercilessly as a prank was carried out successfully. Of course, I was ignoring Severus right now, but still, the behavior was cruel…Would the annoyance ever cease? I highly doubted it.

So imagine my surprise when, at nine o'clock, a pebble hit my dormitory window; softly, but hard enough for me to notice the noise. I was the only one in the dorm still awake,—we'd had a party over the recent Quidditch win for Gryffindor— unsuccessfully trying to finish my DADA homework: it was the only class I _didn't_ excel in. Oh, back to the pebble. Once the pebble had completed its task of catching my attention, another one tapped my window, this one a bit louder than the last. Confused, I crept to the window, expecting to see some kind of creature from Care of Magical Creatures spitting rocks at my dormitory window. Instead, who should stand there but James Potter?

"Potter!" I hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Can't you just come down here? For a second?"

I scoffed angrily at his incompetence. "And how am I supposed to get down? Fly? It's not like I'd live two seconds on a broom!"

"Leave it to me," he said with a tone of suspense. "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _he muttered, just barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Oh!" I gasped, as I was lifted from the windowsill and onto the grass right outside.

"James Potter, what was that? You can't just levitate someone from their dormitory because you have the whim to _talk!_ It's absurd! Whatever it is, I'm sure it could've waited 'til morning! Honestly—" But I didn't get to finish. James had pressed his mouth, somewhat forcefully, to my own. My surprise? I kissed him back. I didn't keep my eyes open and try to push him away. I closed my eyes and kissed him. I enjoyed it. Crap. It was when he wrapped an arm around my waist and I put a hand on the back of his neck that I realized I was snogging my worst enemy, and I pulled back, gasping for breath.

"Are you _kidding me?_" I gasped out. "You've been making my school life my own personal _Azkaban _for six years and now you _snog me?_"

"Lily," he said calmly, surprising me even more. "Lily Evans, I have loved you for six years. I don't know what I was doing, messing with you like that. I just wanted you to notice me. I love you. So much, it hurts. I just want a little reciprocation. If at all…possible?" he finished in a question.

I heard a rustling in the bushes, and I cocked an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are—are you serious? For real? You're not about to yell, 'Hah! You should've seen your face!'?" I asked, even more suspicious.

"No, Lily. I love you. Do you want me to beg for forgiveness?"

"Hmm…" I said sarcastically, as if I was considering the idea. But before I could believe what was happening, James was on the ground, hugging my legs.

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please," he chanted. "Please, Lily, please!" he continued to grovel, but I'd had enough of it.

"James! Get off me!"

"Ah, you didn't call me Potter!" he was still hugging my legs pathetically, as if it could help his case any. I heard snickering coming somewhere and felt annoyed, but didn't see anything when I looked up.

"James," I half whined, half scolded. I tilted his head up to mine so I could see his bespectacled face. "I don't really want to be nice to you right now," I said, and he grimaced, and looked at me apologetically, "but why don't we try being friends? You know, until we decide we hate each other again."

His face broke into a smile that made his whole face glow. He kissed me again, smiling. "Okay, Lily! We're best friends! And, I'll never, ever, EVER hate you, Lily."

"Slow down, Jack. Alice is my best friend." He pouted. "And the kissing thing isn't helping the friendship thing at all."

"Right," he said, chastising himself. He hugged me instead, almost cracking my ribs. "That okay?" he asked.

"Can't…breathe…too…tight," I choked out.

"Ahh!" he cried. "Jeez, sorry, Lils. I'll go. Er…see you tomorrow? First period DADA?"

"Right," I smirked. In parting, I held out my hand. He shook it, smiling grimly. He turned to walk away, but he still seemed to have a happy glow around him. I didn't want to leave him disappointed, I guess. Why? I don't have the foggiest idea. "James?" I called.

He whipped around, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, love, er….buddy?" I scowled at him, but went over and hugged him.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He looked woozy.

"Whatever happens, just go inside, I'm fine." He sighed.

"Er…okay?" He just kept standing there, so I sighed and levitated myself back up through the window. I smiled. Wait, what the hell? Why was I smiling?

Did…did I just agree to be friends with James…POTTER? POTTER WAS MY _BUDDY _NOW? Why was I _okay _with this? Maybe…did I _want _to be friends with him? I was just tired of fighting. Yeah, that was it. Definitely. He may be hopelessly in love with me, and I just told him we'd be friends to repress that love. Maybe he'd figure out we were only supposed to be friends. Then everything would make a small bit of sense again.

I heard more laughing from the ground, and turned around to look out the window. My eyebrows shot up my forehead in surprise. James had passed out, and now Remus and Sirius were helping—well, dragging—James back into the castle through one of the many secret passages they'd found. I sighed and rolled my eyes. What an idiot.

_But he's my idiot._

What? My…mind was talking to me again. Time to have another argument with myself.

_Oh, come on, Lils! He's completely in love with you! _

"Yeah, but I don't love him!"

_You sure about that?_

"What? Of course I'm sure! I don't love James Potter! Not in a million years!"

_Then why did you kiss him back? _

"I didn't… well…Yeah, I did. But, I'm not sure."

_Why did you hug him?_

"I thought it would make him feel better, you know? He seemed sad…"

_And why do you care whether or not he's sad? _

Shoot. I had myself there.

_Perhaps because you, oh, I don't know…care? _

"I do not!"

_Yes, you do. You want him to be happy._

"Well, shouldn't we all want people to be happy? It's really pretty mean to think that you want someone to be sad, or angry."

_Oh, nu-uh. It's just James. You would wish the worst day of his life upon Sirius Black or Lucius Malfoy. You just want James to be happy. _

"And Alice," I put in on my whispered conversation with myself.

_Okay, fine. _I allowed. _But you wouldn't freak out for too long if you and James were literally the last two people on earth. _

I thought about that one for a second. Oh, Godric, I was right! We would have to…repopulate…

_That's right! _

"Oh, jeez, no! No, no, no, no!"

"Mmmm," mumbled someone to my right. Leah Chandler, one of my other friends, had woken up to my mutterings and turned towards me. "Wha…What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"N-nothing." I stammered. "But I just got a new best friend."

James' POV

"What the hell was that, Prongs?" exclaimed Sirius, panting from dragging me back through the secret passageway into the castle and up all the stairs. "You _fainted? _I mean, you actually _fainted_?"* he scoffed.

"Give him a break, Padfoot! It was the only time he'd made an advance towards Lily and she didn't hex him! This is groundbreaking! Should we talk to the elves about some firewhiskey?" Remus wondered.

"No, screw the firewhiskey, guys. Can you believe I passed out?" I said, defeated.

"No!"

"Yes!" Remus and Sirius shouted at the same time.

"Ugh. Do you think…do you think she saw?"

"Yes, she did. I saw her looking out at us as we pulled you through the passageway."

"Oh, crap! Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, _crap!_" I yelled, repeating myself as much as I felt necessary.

"James, calm down, I don't think she'll care!" I grimaced at Remus. "Well, she _might _care. But even on the off-chance that she does care, you know her well enough to know she wouldn't tell anyone, because she knows you'd be embarrassed!"

"Well, that's just…no, actually that _is_ wonderful. But I looked so stupid, didn't I?" I asked miserably.

"The hell you did, mate!" Sirius chuckled.

"Shut up, Pads," Remus scolded. "He did all right, considering how nervous he was to do this. He did great!"

"No he didn't."

"Yes, he did."

"No, he didn't."

"You're right,"

"What?" I exclaimed. So much for back-up!

"He's right, Prongs. You looked like an idiot! I mean, you professed your love to her after about twenty seconds! _Twenty seconds! _I mean, the kissing-her-so-she'll-shut-up thing was sorta romantic, but you went a little overboard when you started hugging her legs."

I groaned. "Yeah, I may have looked like an idiot. But I would go through it a thousand more times, because I had a little bit of victory, I really did. And you guys just don't understand. I would do anything, _anything_ for Lily Evans. _Anything." _I added seriously for emphasis. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances.

"Hopeless!" they sang at the same time, and gave each other a high-five.

"I may be hopeless, but at least I've _got _something to hope for. To chase after. To love…" I sighed. They sighed, too, but out of amusement and exasperation, not love and hope.

"Whatever," I grumbled, going back to the discarded magazine I'd left on my bed. I scowled, noticing I'd torn a page in my haste to get dressed and carry out Sirius's plan. Oh, well that must've had something to do with it, too, and I voiced my opinions. "And if we hadn't have used _your plan, Sirius!"_

"Well, I was the only one with an idea, may I remind you!" he exclaimed defensively. "I don't see light bulbs over either of your heads!" Just to irk him, I conjured up a light bulb that would hang over his head until it burned out. "Niiiiiice, James," Sirius drawled, obviously annoyed. He tried to swat it away, but soon after he discovered he couldn't get it away, just laid down on his bed to see what would happen. The bulb broke on the headboard and disappeared. "Ha!" he smirked at me triumphantly.

I grumbled incoherently about bridges and what exactly can happen when you jump off them without friendly merpeople waiting at the bottom, when Remus suddenly whispered "_Petrificus Totalus!"_ quickly and quietly twice, pointing to me and Sirius both times. We were both frozen to our beds, my face stuck in a look of shock and Sirius' in anger: he'd had time to foresee the attack. "Do not panic, I will cast _Finite _when you are both asleep." Sirius looked even angrier, impressive when considering that he was frozen.

After about fifteen minutes, Remus sighed, watching us from his bed across the room. He looked at his watch. "Frank should be back soon, I'll ask him about Transfiguration and I'll just copy it onto your papers, McGonagall shouldn't be able to tell the difference." I tried to nod my thanks, but when I realized this was impossible, I just hoped Remus could guess I was grateful.

Indeed, Frank Longbottom, a fellow Gryffindor and roommate, showed up about a half hour later, a bit tired, but still coherent. Remus asked about the homework after explaining about Sirius and I, Sirius had already fallen asleep and Remus was just waiting for me now. "Oh, right. Sorry, mate, I'm really tired. I think I'll just crash. I already did the homework though. Front pouch, blue paperclip," Frank told Remus, describing from where to get the homework.

"Right, thanks, Frank."

"No problem, Remus," he slurred happily, collapsing onto his bed fully clothed. Though he could not have been comfortable, I was happy I'd changed back into my pajamas before being frozen to my bed.

Remus finished the homework at about 10:45 and sighed, slumping in his seat and putting all the homework into the owners' bags. "Well, James, you almost asleep?" I moved the only thing I could, my eyes, up and down like a nod to indicate that yes, I was close to sleep. "Good. Tell me when you are," he joked. I rolled my eyes at him and he just chuckled. He took the Quidditch magazine out of my hands; I had completely forgotten that I had been holding it when he'd frozen us. I just laid there, moments from sleep. As I closed my eyes, the last thing I hear before I went under was the quiet muttering of Remus taking away the spell. "_Finite, Finite,"_

Then, I fell asleep.

*Taken from the movie, _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, and if you can't figure that out, maybe you should join Lockhart in St. Mungo's mental care facility. **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sweetness! Aw, I love this chapter. But not as much as the coming story…! Keep reading, and I'll keep writing. But not unless you REVIEW! Thank you and goodnight. Good morning. Good afternoon. You know, whatever time it is where you are. 8)**

**-Hailey (Potternerd1997)**


	3. On the Verge of a Break

Chapter 3: On The Verge of a Break

Violet's POV

I, Violet Clark, am in love. I am in love with the most handsome, cutest, most attractive boy in the entire school, possibly the entire country! I squeal at just the sound of his name: _James Potter._ *SQUEAL!* Oops, see? There I go again! See, James isn't my boyfriend…yet. He _will _be mine! After all, he'd been sending me love letters the last six and a half weeks!

I rushed downstairs from my dormitory, my best friend Frieda Dunham right behind me. "So what are we going to do today?" squealed Frieda.

"We'll make another advance!" I squealed. We pretty much spoke in squeals, and for some reason it happened to annoy most of the people we talked to. Hmm, I wonder why? Maybe they're just jealous because their voices can't be has high and perfect as ours are. Yeah, that's gotta be it.

"Ooh!" Frieda squealed excited.

I spoke. "I figure, it's Tuesday. James always comes back to the common room on Tuesday nights at around eight, to catch up on late homework or plan a new prank. Meaning, that if we catch him from his last class, we might be able to walk with him and the Marauders until we all go to bed! But…how to be with James right when he gets out of Herbology…?" I wondered.

You see, Frieda and I were one year younger than James, meaning that our sixth year Defense Against the Dark Arts class was on an entirely different side of the castle from the Greenhouses. If only we could be in two places at once. No, better, if only we could Apparate. My older sister Periwinkle had attempted to teach me after much begging and pleading on my part, but after I'd spliced off a finger, and she'd had to reattach it, Mummy had decided it was much too dangerous for us. That was alright with me at the time, I was only twelve, where was I to go? But oh, how that would come in handy!

"What if we just ditch DADA? For once," Frieda asked. "It's not like we'll run into Lucius Malfoy on the way up. That would be disaster!" she drawled, still squeaking. We were almost to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I suppose…" I mused. "I got it! We're sick! Um… dragonpox! That's real, right?"

"Hmm, I think so," said Frieda, unsure. "When does James get into the Great Hall again, Vi?"

"Usually within five minutes of 8:30, then he heads to DADA around 8:50,"

"Right." Frieda said. "So…any chance we could try to get me…"

"NO!" I shrieked, loudly enough that four students and a ghost stared at us as we hurried down the corridor. "I will _not _try to set you up with Remus Lupin! Well, at least while I'm trying to set myself up with James." I added. "I _will _live in a mansion on a hill by the sea with our daughter, Lavender"—my parents liked purple, why not carry on the tradition?—"and I _will _become Minister of Magic because, well, I'm just that good at magic, and I _will _be the richest witch in the Wizarding World!" I declared, rubbing my hands together.

We had reached the Great Hall and I sighed happily as I pushed open the wide, wooden double doors. My short, very blond curls bobbed up and down as Frieda and I skipped, holding hands, down the aisle by the Gryffindor table. We sat down, and, in perfect synchronization, put half a piece of toast, two eggs, one slice of bacon and a glass of orange juice in front of us and began to eat. It was 8:28, meaning that James and his friends could be here any minute! I squealed again, nearly choking on my eggs. Frieda pounded on my back, screaming, "Don't die on me, Violet! DON'T DIE, PLEASE DON'T DIE!" while tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Shut up, I'm not dying!" I half squealed, half choked. I coughed one last time, and this time, embarrassingly enough, a large chunk of predigested egg came flying out of my mouth and onto the plate of the person across from me. I was about to tell that person off and ask them to keep their plate away from my half-chewed food when I noticed that—OH MY GODRIC—it was James Potter. I screamed. Really, really loud. James covered his ears in shock, Sirius Black and Remus covering their ears as well, but it looked much more expected coming from them. Hmm. Why?

"That was…loud." James told me after I'd stopped screaming.

"SORRY!" I yelled at him.

"As…was that." James started to look frightened. He held out a napkin to me. "Here, I think this is yours," he said softly, putting the napkin in the hand I stretched out. I opened it, expecting to see a lock of hair, or a heart pendant, or a rose, but found the piece of egg, which was disgustingly yellow and gooey.

"OH. THANKS. SORRY AGAIN. YOU KNOW, FOR THE EGGS AND STUFF."

"Right."

While I had been busy being disappointed and thinking very deep thoughts about how his glasses shined in the light from the sun on the bewitched ceiling and how whenever he picked up his glass of milk you could see the muscles in his right forearm bulge ever so slightly, when I looked up to notice his plate was empty. So was Remus', and he told him, "Should we go now?"

"Yeah, mate, I know you want to be early…" Remus had said that very cryptically…I wonder… Maybe he needed to turn in extra credit? Oh, he was just that brilliant! Sirius looked up, clearly startled by the departing of his two best friends.

"Hey, what about me?" he gestured to his plate, which was half-full with buttered toast, bacon and hash browns.

"Oh, you can catch up!" James said, suddenly in an even bigger hurry to get to class.

"No! Don't leave me with the crazy girl!" Sirius looked at me disapprovingly. I smiled widely at him.

"Don't worry," I told him, wiping my mouth quite daintily on the same napkin James had given me.

"You're in good company. After all, when James and I have our first child, we'll make you godfather."

He looked at me, obviously more terrified than before. He stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth, and, even with his mouth full (eww!) yelled after James and Remus, "WAIT FOR ME! I'M COMING, TOO!" Ah, that boy was so funny! Though not half as funny as James! James chuckled and patted Sirius on the back, hurrying to get to class.

"BYE, SIRIUS!" I called after him. He, too, seemed to be in an awful hurry to get out of the Great Hall.

"Did you see the look on her face when she left?" asked that girl—what was her name?—Alice. That was it. Alice. She was a very nice seventh-year girl with short, well-groomed mousy brown hair. She had shown me how to get to Transfiguration on my first day at Hogwarts. "She looked positively flustered when he looked over and waved! Oh, I do hope they get together!"

Frank Longbottom, another Gryffindor, and Alice's boyfriend put his arm around her, dropping the piece of toast he was holding. "Alice, don't get your hopes up. You were devastated when Claire and Gregory broke up, and I'd hate to see you that way again if it didn't work out for your _best friend._"

"Yeah, but it'll work out for her, she's just so deserving, don't you think?"

"Yes, Lily deserves a good relationship. And everyone in their right mind knows he's completely head over heels for her." Oh, Lily Evans? Oooh! She really did deserve a stable boyfriend. Head Girl, best marks in the school, most responsible student this generation, absolutely gorgeous (though not as pretty as me or Frieda), she needed fun and love. I couldn't help but hope she got it.

"Of course James loves her! She just has to love him back!"

"J-James? As in P-P-Potter?" I asked quietly.

"Er, yes, that's who I mean." Alice answered my stuttered, squeaky question, confused.

My vision was blurry, my face was red, and my hands were cold. "Come on, Frieda."

"What? No, I have to finish my orange juice!"

"COME ON!" I roared angrily, though still in a squeal.

"Fine." She tried to take one last drink, and by pulling her away, I'm sure I nearly drowned her. Well, that's what she deserves, being so selfish! The opportunity doesn't pop up all the time for me to save my dream-man from a vicious bitch who didn't want him back.

Oh, did I say all those nice things about Lily Evans? WRONG! She is a lying, greedy, desperate wench who wanted nothing more than to lead my man along! And I wasn't going to let her!

Sirius' POV

"Do you think they really have hope as friends?" Moony asked me suddenly. We were sitting in our usual seats at the back of the classroom, giving space to Prongs as he tried to talk to Lily up at the front of the classroom. She apparently hadn't finished her homework after our little shenanigan last night, and James had offered to help her.

"I hope so, or we'll never hear the end of it," I told Remus in a low voice. I was correcting an error we'd found on the Marauder's Map: we'd found that one of the walls to Dumbledore's office was curved, not straight. Apparently it'd been changed over the Christmas Holiday to make space for a new secret room.

Plus, I had a more pressing matter on my mind: Violet Brown, the most geeky, uncoordinated, SCARIEST girl in all of Hogwarts. And she fancied my best friend! I heard squealing coming from down the hall, and turned around, having just completed the change to the Map. Oh, crap! There she was, and her squeal-y little friend, Frieda Dunham. I swear, they were the most frightening things to ever show their ugly faces at this school.

But they weren't giggling and gossiping as they normally were, no, Violet was scowling and glaring at…Oh, what else? Prongs. Ohhhh… Prongs and _Lily._ She had to be insanely jealous! YESS! I pointed out my new discovery to Remus and he burst out laughing, much to the annoyance of the two eavesdroppers at the door. James and Lily didn't even turn around, they were too busy giggling and working out the homework. Violet looked like she could burn a hole in the back of their heads just by staring. This was wonderful!

But it was probably time to reveal our hidden prank to him…as soon as lunch rolled around. We'd avoid the Giggle Twins at the lunch table and Remus and I would tell him about the only prank we'd ever hidden from our best friend: For six weeks now, ever since we discovered that Violet liked him, we'd been sending her love letters supposedly from James.

Ah, the news would be hard to break, but funny to laugh at when she got the letter we'd just sent this morning!

Violet's POV

I couldn't believe it! This made up for it! Definitely!

_Dear Violet,_

_Soon, I shall not admire you from afar any longer. You must disregard my rudeness to you at any time; I hardly spare you any words because I am much too nervous! If only I felt I had more of a chance with you… You may see me with Lily Evans. She is a hopeless admirer, and I am attempting to let her down gently. You see, there is no one in the world I could hope to be with more than you. _

_All my Love,  
>James Potter<em>

I squealed and showed the letter to Frieda. "And this is the third one this week!"

"Oh, well that explains what we've been seeing! See, he wasn't cheating on you with Lily! He still loves you, Alice must've just been wrong."

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure of his love for me, anyway. Never-ending! That's what he said in his letter from Monday!" Frieda squealed again. I squealed with her. It became a squeal fest, and most of the people around us scooted over or just left the table, giving us baleful looks. _Jealousy! _I thought to myself loudly. _You'll see you were wrong to be so envious when you grow wrinkles prematurely! _I laughed then, while I squealed.

James' POV

"Are you _kidding _me?" I yelped at my two best friends. "You did _what?_" They laughed loudly at me, not even paying attention to the shocked/amused expression on my face.

"We—sent—her—love—letters!" Sirius barked between laughs.

"And—she—believed—we—were—you!" Remus added. I chuckled sullenly.

"So can I see some of these love letters? You know, now that I'm in on the secret I've got to play along."

They looked at each other, shrugged, laughed again and Remus muttered, "_Accio, letters_!" From the general direction of Gryffindor Tower, fifteen pieces of paper flew into the great hall and then into Remus' hands. "This is the first one we sent," he said, giving the letter to me. It read:

_Dear Love,_

_I could only wish to know your name, because lately, whenever I see you, I feel dizzy. Your beauty unyielding, your hair reminds me of a golden sunset, your eyes of the greenest forest, your skin of the ripest apricot. Can I only know your name? _

_Love forever,  
>James Potter<em>

"You gits!" I yelled at them. "'_The ripest apricot_'?"

"Oi, mate, we thought it was good!" Sirius laughed.

"And it worked," Remus said, laughing harder.

"Ohhh," I sighed, hitting my head into the table in front of me repeatedly until Remus put his hand out to stop me. "You guys are _so _annoying!"

"We know," they said together.

"Well what am I supposed to do now?"

"You decide, Prongs. Here's the letter we sent this morning. Judging by the squealing going on at the end of the table…" he pointed, "…she's already read it." I read the copy of the letter Remus handed me, my eyes bugging out at words like "shall not," "afar," and "much too nervous!" I felt sick to my stomach when I read the part of the letter about Lily.

"Guys…" I groaned. "Did you _really _have to drag Lily into this?"

"Well, how were we going to carry on when you were always with Lily?"

"YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP WRITING LETTERS?" I yelled at them again.

"Of course! It's just—too—funny!" Sirius laughed again.

I sighed. "But…Lily…I love…her…" I mumbled. "This can only end badly. With or without the letters. I need to send Violet my own letter. The truth."

"What?" Sirius gasped. "Since when are you such a buzz kill? And, it's so much fun! If only you'd try it!"

"No. I need to end this, so I can take another step forward with Lily."

"But…" Sirius searched for words.

"No, Padfoot. I think Prongs is right." Sirius gaped at Moony. I looked around, looking for Lily, but found Violet. I grimaced.

"Did Lily leave for History of Magic yet?" I asked quietly.

"Uh…" Remus looked around. "Yeah, I would think so."

"Okay. I'll see you guys when you're finished." Remus nodded, and Sirius continued to scowl at his plate.

"Oh, by the way, mates," I said as I was walking out the double doors. "I'll let Lily sit with Alice today that way I'll have time in class to draft the letter."

"Right, James. We'll see you in there." I nodded and left.

Lily's POV

I was sitting in History of Magic, writing a letter to my mum and dad, when James walked in. "Uh, hi, Lils!" he called to me.

"Hi, James." I continued to write as he sat down next to me.

"You…writing a letter?" For some strange reason, his eyes bugged out and he was seemingly panicking at the thought of me writing a letter.

I cocked an eyebrow and replied, "Yes…?"

"Um…who are you writing to?"

"My parents," I told him, curious as to why he was acting so strange.

"Oh!" he seemed to relax.

"Are…are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now," he said, looking at me. I blushed very red, I could tell.

"So, are you going to sit next to me again this class?" I asked. Wait. Was that hope in my voice? What the hell was _hope _doing there? No, hope! Go away!

_Stay, hope. James, you too. Stay. With me._

Ugh. I had neither the time nor the energy to have an argument with myself again right now. "No, I don't think so," James said uncertainly, sadly.

"Oh," I was disappointed. Inwardly, I groaned….I _really _needed to have a word with my emotions about this!

"I'm sorry, it's just…I have something I need to…work on."

"Maybe we can work on it together."

"No, it kind of involves…this…girl…"

"Oh," I said dejectedly, dragging my eyes back to my parchment.

"No, no, no, no, no! No, not that way!" he practically yelled at me. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Even Professor Binns looked up from the papers he was grading, rolled his ghostly eyes and continued to grade. "I told you, Lily! Even if we're just friends, I will love you until the end of time!" He took my hand in both of his. "I'm okay with being your friend, Lils, because it means that we can at least spend time together!"

Wow. That was…sweet. Seriously, _seriously_ creepy, but sweet. "Oh," I said, less disappointed. "Well, I think I can honestly say that—as a friend, mind you—I love you." His face lit up and he smiled widely. He muttered something like,

"YESS!" and I blushed, pretending not to have heard.

"Okay, that aside….Can I be curious about this girl?"

"Oh, sure! I'd love to tell you about her!" I looked at him suspiciously, looking for any sign of sarcasm. Scan complete: None found. "She's Violet…something or other. She's in sixth year, and she's a complete stalker!" he said, almost happily.

"You sound…happy that you have a creepy stalker girl after you," I accused.

"No, not at all, I'm just really glad that I can talk to you about this, I didn't think you'd want to hear,"

"Oh," I said. I seemed to be saying "Oh," a whole lot today. James didn't seem to notice. "So, what are you going to be working on, then?"

"I'm going to write her a very courteous letter explaining that I do not return her feelings and I will try to let her down gently."

"That's very mature of you," I complimented him. "Thank you. Sirius doesn't think so."

"Why would he?" I asked. "He's not you, and he's not mature." He laughed, and I joined in.

"He's not, but he's my best friend and practically family. I guess, like you said to me, I love him as a friend. Though, also as the brother I never had." He told me.

"I'm glad you're being honest," I admitted.

"Me too," he said lightly. "I'm glad I can talk to you like this. I thought you hated me."

I do. Don't. Huh? "I thought I did, too. Just last night I hated you. Godric, what's changed?" The last part was more a question to me than to James, but he answered anyway.

"Maybe you've found that we really can be friends. And maybe you're ready to stop fighting." I nodded, and thought about that. Hmm. He was exactly right! Wow! He's good.

"Have you ever thought about being a psychiatrist?" I asked him suddenly.

"A what?"

"It's a Muggle—well, never mind."

"Hmm. Okay."

I just sat there for a minute and finished my letter, tucking it into my book bag. I checked the watch on James' wrist—I had left mine in my dormitory—and saw we had twenty-six more minutes until the bell to get to class. "So," I told James. He had just been watching me while I wrote and now he smiled softly and listened to me. "Now that I know about your stalker, can I help you write _your _letter? You _will _sit with me now, right?"

"If you want me to…" I nodded quickly and he smiled, "…then yes, I'll sit with you. And it would be a pleasure to have you break up with my stalker with me," he said jokingly. I laughed, and watched him take out a spare quill and parchment from his bag. "How should I start?" he asked me.

"Hmm…" I thought about it. "How about… '_Violet,'_ instead of _"Dear Violet,"_ because then she'll notice something's up and think about it." He nodded slowly, writing "_Violet," _at the top of the page. "Then, you should write something like, '_I apologize for leading you on for so long, but I cannot bring myself to do so any longer,'" _James laughed, but wrote it down.

"You sound like a poet," he chuckled.

"Why thank you!" I laughed along.

"What now?" he asked.

"Hmm… '_I hope to not leave a mark on your heart…'"_

"'_But my own heart has already been taken, and I hope to catch hers,'" _James finished.

I blushed, taken aback but pleased by his words. He just smiled and wrote down what we'd said. "'_It is my hope that you can forgive my error in not turning myself in before,'" _I continued. "'_But I must leave this would-be relationship as it is: would-be, but isn't.'"_

"In parting?" James asked, as he finished copying down my words.

"_To be left in the past, James Potter.'" _

"Perfect. It'll break her heart, but only enough to keep her at bay. I'll read it to you." The letter now read:

_Violet,_

_I apologize for leading you on for so long, but I cannot bring myself to do so any longer. I hope not to leave a mark on your heart, but my own heart has already been taken by the most beautiful, wonderful girl in the world, and I hope to catch hers. It is my hope that you can forgive my error in not turning myself in before, but I must leave this would-be relationship as it is: would-be, but isn't. _

_To be left in the past,  
>James Potter<em>

Nice. I was surprised of course, by the "most beautiful, wonderful girl in the world" part, but didn't say anything. "When will you send it?" I asked James.

"How much time do we have until class officially starts?" he asked me. Surprised, I looked at his watch again.

"Umm… sixteen minutes."

"We have time!"

"What?" I gasped, surprised.

"We can get to the owlry in sixteen minutes, come on!" He grabbed my hand and got up from the desk. We left our things where they were and ran out the door, up the many flights of stairs and into the owlry. "Should I use my owl?" James asked me.

"Yes, that makes it more personal than if you were to send a school owl, or someone else's owl."

"All right." He attached the note to the fluffy owl's talon and sent him away. "He's a good old owl," James said fondly about his owl. "How much more time do we have?"

"Oh!" I said, surprised. I grabbed James' wrist again. I think he knew what time class started, he just wanted me to take his arm. "Umm…seven minutes, let's go!" This time I grabbed his hand and we ran back down to History of Magic.

**DISCLAIMER: Boy, do I wish I owned Harry Potter! But I don't, and I am sad. **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, this was actually much longer than I expected. But I got SO into this chapter, introducing new characters and such. New chapter shall be up as soon as the site will let me! **

**-Hailey (Potternerd1997)**


	4. Scheming

Chapter 4: Scheming

Frieda's POV

My best friend has been up in our dormitory crying nonstop since last night when James' owl came. We skipped all of our classes so that I could stay with her while she sobbed. I wish to kill James Potter. Ooh…my lip gloss is _seriously _shiny. Oh, but yeah. I need to kill James Potter.

But first…Remus Lupin! He's SO cute! Oh, swoon! And there's something that puts off that _vibe_ you know? Animalistic…wild…mysterious…._SO hot! _And there he is! Oh, but he's with Black and Potter…No worries. Remus is worth a bit of annoyance. I didn't have to worry about that, though. James and Sirius walked away quickly when they saw me approaching: probably trying to get Remus and me some time alone.

"Hi, Remus!" I got right in his face and got assertive, just like Violet said men like.

"Er…hi, Felicia."

"My name is Frieda."

"Right, Frieda. Yeah, you're Violet's friend, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, still standing in his path.

"Look, Fabiola, I need to get to class, so could you please move?"

"Sure, Remus! But, um, my name is Frieda."

"Yeah, um…see you later!"

"DEFINITELY!" I squealed. Wait…classes were over hours ago…

No matter! He was as good as mine!

Remus' POV

"Oh, Godric, they're after me too," I puffed when I caught up to Prongs and Padfoot. James was rushing to get back to the common room where Lily said she'd meet him to work on Transfiguration (he said he'd let Sirius and I copy later).

"What?" Sirius gasped. "Boy, does that girl bounce back fast!"

"No," I said, panting for breath. "The other one, the brunette one,"

"Oh, you mean Farrah?" James asked.

"Yeah, something like that." James looked at me curiously.

"Well? Do tell what happened, Moony."

"Oh, right! Well, she ran into me in the corridor and stuck her head in my face squealing, 'Hi, Remus!'" I did a bad impression of that girl's squealing and the other two laughed.

"Ha! Really? She probably thinks she's being assertive or something," Sirius chortled.

"I told her I needed to get to class so she'd move, and I'm pretty sure she believed me."

"Wow." James joked. "She's blinded by love!"

"Yeah, blind, and deaf…"

"I'm not sure if that made sense…" Sirius told me.

"I don't think it did, but I'm sort of freaking out right now."

"Gee, Moony. It looks like we're in deep with the Giggle Twins, huh?" James scoffed, not amused.

I sighed and we kept jogging across the courtyard. It was only then that I realized I had a pounding headache. _Get a hold of yourself, Remus! It's no wonder you have a headache after running into that Fanny girl! _But the headache worsened and my mouth started to feel uncomfortably dry. I moved my tongue around a bit, hoping—disgustingly—to find some saliva I could swallow to make the dryness go away, but there was none to be found. Suddenly my legs started cramping up just like they do…Oh…Like they do right before I go through the transformation. Crap. I'd forgotten. Tonight was a full moon.

I expressed my concerns with Padfoot and Prongs and I swear Prongs looked like he was about to cry when he said, "But what about Lily? I said she was to meet me in the common room tonight at…" he checked his watch quickly. "…Nine o'clock. I _have _to be there, Remus!"

"Drat. Can't you just ditch the chick?" Sirius said like the gentlemanly fellow he was.

"No, Sirius, I cannot just, as you so brutally put it, '_ditch the chick'_," James said scathingly.

"Jeez, mate, don't go all "witches rights" on me, okay? But I mean, she's just a girl." 

"NO, SHE'S NOT JUST A GIRL! YOU KNOW THAT!"

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!" I shouted over their childish bickering. "Look, James you don't have to come. It'll just be Sirius and I."

"What about Peter?" James asked.

"Oh, he disappeared mysteriously until later."*

James looked curious but didn't ask about it. "Okaaaay…?"

"Are you sure I don't have to go, though? I mean, you'll be okay with just Pads?"

"Yeah, Moony, we've only ever gone as at least the three of us."

"No," I grimaced in pain. "I'll be…fine. Just…stay with…Lily."

"Remus, get to the tree, you're already in really deep pain, I can tell," Sirius said worriedly.

"Okay, let's…go," I agreed.

"Good luck with Lily, Prongs," Pads told Prongs.

"Thanks mate. I'll see you tomorrow, Remus," James told me.

"Yeah…see you…tomorrow." I walked off with Sirius, clutching my head, in the direction of the ominous-looking Whomping Willow.

Lily's POV

Mmm. He was late. _Tsk, tsk! _I thought sarcastically. Suddenly, the portrait hole opened up with a loud _whump! _"I'M HERE, I'M HERE! DON'T WORRY, LILY, I DIDN'T FORGET! _I DIDN'T FORGET!_" I laughed, a bit embarrassed.

"Oh, trust me, I didn't think you forgot, James," I told him, still giggling.

"Yeah, 'cause I _didn't!" _he said proudly.

"Where are Remus and Sirius? I thought they'd be with you, they always are."

"Oh, um…Remus had to take care of his time of the month and Sirius went to help him." He said strangely.

"Um…right. Whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Well, I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you," he told me, grinning. "And I love you too much, so please don't let it come to that," he pretended to beg. I laughed, but took him seriously and didn't ask any more questions about the Marauders.

After about an hour, when the homework—even Potions and Herbology, which wasn't due until next week—was finished, we started just goofing off, both of us enjoying each other's company too much for either of us to leave. We played Exploding Snap and fourteen rounds of Wizard Chess, me ahead of him by four games. We talked while we played, and on our fifteenth game of Wizard Chess, I asked him, "So, did Violet get the owl?"

"Yes," he chuckled darkly.

"Do you know how she's getting along?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure anyone who cares to listen can hear her overdramatic sobs."

"Oh," I laughed.

"Oh, and her friend Franny fancies Remus," he guffawed.

"Oh, no! How's Remus taking it?"

"Actually, pretty hard, by what he's told me." 

Towards the end of our conversation about Violet, I remembered something. "Isn't Violet's friend named 'Frieda'?"

"I don't know! Let's just call her Giggle Twin #2 and leave her at that!" he laughed loudly, and I laughed with him.

After our seventeenth game of Wizard Chess ended, and the overall odds stood ten to seven, I discovered something interesting: could what I had said earlier really ring true? Could I actually love James? And as a friend…or more? To try to smother some of my curiosity, and because I suddenly wanted to, I found myself snogging the one and only James Potter. And loving it. When we broke apart, everyone in the room was staring, and James looked like he could run to China and back with all the enthusiasm in his grinning expression. And I found myself smiling, too.

Unfortunately, neither of us could know 'til later, that there was someone watching us. Probably one of the worst people who could've been watching us. She'd watched us through all the gossiping about the letters, every game of Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess, and every moment of our kiss. That someone had every right to be angry and no right at the same time. But no matter what rights she did or didn't have, Violet Brown was watching James and I just the same.

Violet's POV

"We have to get back at her! ASAP!" I yelled at Frieda that night.

"What? Why?" she thought for a second. "And…get back at who…?"

"LILY FREAKING EVANS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. No doubt everyone from here to the Black Lake could hear us now.

"Calm down, Vi! What happened?"

"YOU WOULDN'T TELL ME TO BE CALM IF YOU'D HEARD WHAT JAMES AND LILY SAID ABOUT US AND IF YOU'D HAVE SEEN THEM SNOGGING THEIR BLOODY HEARTS OUT!"

"W-what?" asked Frieda confusedly.

"YOU HEARD ME, FRIEDA DUNHAM!"

"Oh, Godric, I'm sorry, Violet. Wait, they were talking about us?"

"Yes! They all think we're bloody idiots, the lot of them!"

"Really? Wait, even Remus?"

"Especially Remus, he hates your bloody guts!" A tear ran down her cheek. "And no, I will not say I'm sorry for that, because I'm only telling the truth."

She sobbed, and I yelled at her, like every good friend would, "GET A GRIP!" That made her sob louder, forcing me to give her my last calming potion that Professor Slughorn had given me.

"Oh, thanks, Violet. I feel so much better."

"Yeah, Frieda, good. We need to take care of my problems!" She looked at me, blinked, and then went over to her bedside table with the mirror on it to reapply her sparkly Pumpkin-flavored lip gloss.

"So what'll we do?" Frieda asked with her lips puckered.

"Well…she's allergic to gillyweed…remember that time in our second year when their class did the experiment with gillyweed? And Evans was so sick that she stayed in the Hospital Wing for a week and a half? Her lips were the size of two overgrown caterpillars! James will never want to be with her when she looks like that!"

"You're so right!" Frieda said beaming. "Probably."

"Of _course _I'm right! So will we do this or not?"

"Yeah! Let's do it! … Exactly _how _will we do this?" I sighed. Sometimes, Frieda could be so naïve.

At midnight that night, I was out of bed in my quietest black clothing and bed slippers. "Frieda!" I hissed. "FRIEDA!" I finally blew a whistle in her ear that I'd stolen from the Quidditch pitch at one of James' games. "Come on!" I whispered, once Frieda was awake and I'd made sure the rest of the dorm wasn't. "We need to get down to Slughorn's office!" 

"Yeah…" Frieda slurred sleepily.

"Come…come on…" I rolled my eyes, dragging her out of bed.

We made it to Slughorn's store cupboards without a hitch: that should have been my clue that everything was about to go wrong. "There!" I exclaimed in a silent whisper. "We're almost to…"

"Good evening, ladies," Who else but Lucius Malfoy would have rounds tonight? "What would we be doing out of bed at…" he checked his watch. "Half-past twelve?"

"Well, er, you see, Lucius, um…" I babbled.

"We were…um…we needed to…I mean…" Frieda muttered, noncommittal. I glared at her.

"I needed to check Frieda out of the hospital wing…Madam Pomfrey said she'd be all right…" I made up on the spot.

"Really? Madam Pomfrey allowed the both of you to check out of the hospital wing…at midnight?" he said scathingly.

"Er. Yes. She had…dragonpox."

"It's real, you know!" Frieda exclaimed.

"Right. Well, considering the fact that you're Periwinkle's little sister," Lucius said to me,

"I'll let you both off on a warning. But one last time, and I promise, there will be detentions from both of you and Gryffindor's points _will _go down. Drastically."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, make yourselves scarce."

We scurried away from the scene, wiping our brows from the tension. "Ew, ew, ew!" Frieda squealed. "I'm sweaty!" she pouted.

"Oh, shut up. We got the gillyweed without getting expelled—yet—and that's what matters!" I hissed through my teeth. "COME ON!" I took her clammy arm and we ran into the common room and upstairs to the dorm.

"Oh, good. Sleep," Frieda said hopefully.

"No." I told her.

"What?" she said, whining.

"We need to figure out a plan."

"Fine. But then can we go to bed?"

"Yes, then you can go to bed," I told her, growling.

"So what'll we do?" asked Frieda, suppressing a yawn.

We thought. Or at least, I thought, and she put on a full face of makeup despite the fact we were going to bed soon and it was almost one o'clock in the morning.

"I'VE GOT IT!" I yelled suddenly. One of our roommates tossed in her sleep and I quieted down, but shared my idea with Frieda. "Okay, so…tomorrow morning at breakfast, we find where she's sitting. We pretend we want to talk to her, and when we sit down next to her, I 'accidently' spill her juice, replacing her goblet with mine: the goblet of juice with the gillyweed extracts in it! It's genius!"

"Hmm. I guess so," Freida said, holding her eye open as she put on eyeliner. I smacked her on the back of the head and she dropped the pencil.

"You can go to bed now, Frieda."

"Oh, thank you!" She hugged me, getting into bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, I startled giggling under my breath. When I had smacked her, the pencil had slipped and she now had a straight green line going from her eyebrow down to her eyelashes. Ha! I wasn't going to tell her in the morning!

James' POV

That night, I had a dream. It happened right after I'd fallen asleep, thinking of what had happened that evening with Lily…

"_What did you do that for?" I asked her after she was done kissing me. "I was curious."_

"_Curious?" I questioned her._

"_Curious to see if I loved you." My brain went fuzzy and the long tunnel I'd been going through suddenly didn't just have a light at the end, it was light itself. The tunnel was the light Lily brought to my life. And it was the most beautiful tunnel I'd ever seen, ever been in._

"_Well, you already know how I feel," I told her, whispering. "Do you know how you feel?"_

"_I know we're a bit more than just friends," she told me, sounding remorseful. _

"_So…?" _

"_So, should we…should we try for a—a relationship?" _

"_Wow. Did those words just come out of your mouth?" _

"_I know, right? I'm confused, too. But um, you should know that the first time you kissed me…that was my first kiss…" Wow, really? I was Lily Evans' first kiss? "And…I liked it. Meaning, when I kissed you…I um…" _

"_You wanted me to…like it? And you wondered if I wanted…you know, a relationship."_

"_Yes." We just stared at each other, faces red as Muggle stop signs, until Lily got too shy and looked away. "So what do you say?" she asked quietly, blushing and looking at my hand, which gripped hers. In response, I kissed her. My Godric. Lily Evans was now my girlfriend. _

Just thinking about what went down tonight made every nerve in my body tingle in excitement. _She's my girlfriend! We're together! A package deal! _I screamed at myself.

But that was before I fell asleep. Sometime around one o'clock came the dream.

It was just Lily and I at the Gryffindor table, eating. I couldn't tell what meal it was to tell what time of day it was, but I was alone with her, and I suddenly didn't care. I had my hand in hers, and we were just looking at each other, occasionally eating a bite of something or taking a sip of whatever was in our goblets. At one point, Lily took a sip out of her goblet and her eyes glazed over. "J-James," she whispered as she let go of my hand slowly. Then she fell backwards out of her seat, convulsing.

"LILY!" I called to her. I had no idea what was wrong; all this had just started with a sip of bloody juice! Well, I didn't know what it was, really. I leapt over the table and to her side, gripping her hand again. "What is it, love? What do you need?" I was suddenly crying.

"What's happening?" I called to no one in particular. I did the only rational thing I could think of, and picked her up in my arms and ran with her in the general direction that I knew the Hospital Wing to be. The only problem was, there was nothing in existence besides the table, the food, me, and the girl I loved, who was seemingly dying in my arms. I looked around wildly. Suddenly, Violet appeared out of nowhere. "Violet!" I called to her. "You have to help me, she's…I think she's dying!"

"Don't worry…" she said quietly, almost seductively. "She'll be fine. Maybe." She cackled, and vanished, but the maniacal laughter could still be heard as I cried over the suddenly still body of Lily Evans.

***I really don't like Peter Pettigrew (WHO DOES?) so he's not in this story. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, and I guess that's okay with me…I can still enjoy it.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was SOOO much fun to write, I LOVED it! I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much! This is where the plot thickens, and I left it on a sort of cliffhanger…. AWESOME! Let's see where it leads…**

**-Hailey (Potternerd1997)**


	5. Nightmares Coming True

Chapter 5: Nightmares Coming True

James' POV

This morning was the best morning of my life. Until just after breakfast.

Lily had asked me to wait for her in the common room until she woke up, so I did. I waited in the same chair I'd sat in last night and talked with Frank and Alice until they'd wanted to go to breakfast. I didn't really have to wait long for Lily to come down from her dorm, only about seven minutes and thirty-four seconds. But...who was counting?

She'd come downstairs looking dazzlingly gorgeous as ever, walked over, kissed me quickly and took my hand asking, "So, how are you?" I laughed at her mix of formality and spontaneity.

"I'm fine. Well, I'm better than fine, now that you're here. How are you?"

"I'm great. Just great," and she hugged me closer.

We walked to breakfast in more than comfortable silence and sat down together at the table across from Alice and Frank. I hadn't told them anything about me and Lily yet, and when we walked in holding hands, both Frank and Alice raised their eyebrows in perfect synchronization. "You're together?" asked Alice disbelievingly. Lily looked up at me, smiling, looked back at Alice and nodded happily. Alice sort of shrieked and held Lily's free hand, and Lily looked embarrassed but kept on smiling. Frank shook my hand from across the table.

"Congratulations, mate, you sure hooked a good one," Frank said smiling, and putting his arm around Alice.

"I did, didn't I?" I said, grinning. We put some food on our plate and started to eat.

The nightmare—literally a nightmare—started about four minutes later.

"Hi, guys! Oh, I heard you and Lily are together now, James! I'm so happy for you!" Violet squealed and sat next to Lily, hugging her.

"Oh, er…hi, Violet?" I said confused.

"Oh, and, no hard feelings, I assure you." She nodded her head up and down, her blonde curls bobbing along merrily.

"Um…great…?" Lily said.

"Yeah, isn't it just peachy?"

We sat in an awkward silence until Violet said, "But, of course—" She waved her arms, knocking over Lily's goblet of pumpkin juice. "Oh, oopsie! Sorry, Lily! Here, you can have _my _goblet," Violet crooned, giving Lily a new goblet of juice. Lily just stared at the contents of the goblet suspiciously. "Oh, come on. It's not like I'd poison you or anything, silly, go on!"

"Um…okay…" Lily said, unsure.

"I don't know, Lily, maybe you shouldn't—" I tried to warn her, but she'd already taken a sip, and Violet looked mollified. I exhaled the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"Oh, er. Thanks, Violet."

"No problem, Lily!" Violet said happily, going back to her friend at the other end of the table. I had been remembering my dream and realizing why it might not be a good idea for Lily to drink anything this morning…or at lunch…or dinner…but I'd decided not to warn her at the risk of sounding mad. Plus, nothing seemed to be happening.

We all finished our breakfast and then Lily and I decided to head to Defense Against the Dark Arts. As we were walking, Lily suddenly whimpered a little and clutched her head with her free hand.

"Lily, are you all right?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Don't be ridiculous."

"Okay…" I said warily.

My thoughts drifted to Moony and Padfoot. I hadn't seen them all morning. What if…no, I'm sure they were both fine. Lupin hadn't lost it in a year and a half, and he was getting much better at controlling himself if we were there.

Lily stumbled a bit and I caught her, letting go of her hand and putting my arm around her slender shoulders instead. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she grunted a bit forcefully.

"Lily, you don't have to try to put on a strong face, we can—"

"James!" she laughed. "I'm fine, really!" She got her footing back and kissed my cheek sweetly. "But thank you for caring,"

"Of course I care," I grumbled. She just put her arm around my waist as we walked.

It all came undone when we first stepped into the classroom. "J-James?" she muttered.

"Yes, Lily?" She didn't seem to hear me and fell to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you _kidding _me?" I yelled at no one. The Professor wasn't in the room yet, so I called to our fellow students, "Help! We need help over here!" But no one could do anything; they just stood there staring in shock. If only we would've been in the Potions classroom instead, where we might have had an antidote to whatever was wrong with her! In here we had…what? Twenty kids who didn't know what to do, heavy books, forty desks and the dust on the shelves. That wasn't going to help anything! So I did the only rational thing I could think of, the same thing I'd done in my dream, and I picked up Lily into my arms and ran out the still-open door. Lily was lighter than I'd expected, and since we were in real life and there was no Violet to stop me, it was much easier to get her up the many flights of stairs and into the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey!" I cried out, panting slightly. "Madam Pomfrey!"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Potter, what is it?" she asked, irritated. I set Lily down on the bed closest to me. Madam Pomfrey was standing over a third year that'd apparently broken her arm falling down a flight of stairs.

"She just…she had a headache, and then she stumbled, she lost her balance, and then she just fell down and started convulsing…and I don't know what to do!"

"Oh, goodness." She looked at the third year. "Excuse me, I must help." The feeble little third year just nodded and relaxed.

"What did she eat this morning?" Madam Pomfrey asked me, now checking the pulse of an unconscious Lily.

"Um…just some bread, and eggs, and…" I remembered the juice accident. "And some questionable liquid."

"Er, questionable liquid?" Madam Pomfrey looked up quickly from Lily to me questioningly.

"Yes, a girl spilled Lily's juice and she handed Lily her own goblet and I know for a fact that the girl has it out for Lily." The words tumbled out of my mouth and when I came to the conclusion, I realized the words were true. Was Violet really that jealous of poor Lily?

"Hmm…" she muttered. "I wonder…" I watched Madam Pomfrey scurry into her office coming back with her wand and a few potions, all in different colors: red, purple, pink and green.

"W-wonder what, Madam P-Pomfrey?"

"Well, were you aware of Lily's accident in third year?"

"What? No, I didn't know she had an accident."

"Yes, in Potions class. They were dealing with gillyweed, and she turned out to be allergic. Has she had any contact with the herb?"

"No, but if Violet—that's the other girl—knew about her accident, she could have—"

"Yes, Potter, if she got a hold of some gillyweed, she might've slipped it into Ms. Evan's drink." I clutched my head and leaned on the wall next to Lily's bed, groaning. "Let me do this test…" She spoke a moment later. "Yes, her system contains extract of gillyweed."

"How is that possible? Wouldn't she be half-fish by now?"

"Normally. But her allergy doesn't let the gillyweed get that far, it stops it from transforming her. But if she has trouble breathing, it could be because she could only breathe in water. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"So what will we do?"

"Well, Mr. Potter, _I _will contact Professor Slughorn and ask him if he would happen to be missing any gillyweed, and then I will give Miss Evans a treatment I hope will help and proceed to let her rest. Last time, she was in the hospital for ten days. _You _however, will be going back to class. If you have a note from your Professor, you may come back to visit her."

"All right," I said, defeated and weary. "But I _will _be back."

"No doubt you will be, Mr. Potter, no doubt you will be."

Sirius' POV

"Hey, James!" I said, as he walked through the door, late, into DADA with a note. "Oh, man…You look terrible!"

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Leave him alone, Padfoot." Remus mumbled. He had his head down on the desk in his arms.

"What happened to you guys? You weren't here this morning." James accused.

"Tourists came too close to the Shrieking Shack, I had to restrain him, it wasn't good for either of us." I summarized last night.

"You make it sound like a walk through a field of daisies," Remus mumbled. I turned towards James and pulled the sleeve of my robe down, exposing a long white bandage through which you could see the blood pooling underneath. It covered most of my upper arm, and it hurt to move.

"I'm just lucky I'm right-handed," I told Prongs, whose eyes were bulging at the sight of my wound.

"Mate, I mean…whoa…are you…?"

"Okay?" I finished. "No." I shook my head, and Moony groaned.

"So, why are you late?" I asked Prongs, changing the subject.

"Lily," he told me, looking troubled and altogether miserable.

"What happened?" asked Remus, lifting his head for the first time this class. He had a long gash across his face, from his right eye to his chin. "Don't worry, it'll heal," he added, addressing the injury. James grimaced, but said nothing about it.

"She had an allergic reaction to some gillyweed that Violet put in her drink this morning."

"Oh, you mean like third year?" I asked James unconcernedly.

"Does everyone know about that but me?" he asked incredulously.

"Probably. You skipped that day, trying to avoid Slughorn after that prank. Wait, Violet tried to poison Lily?"

"Yeah, I guess Blondie's getting serious," he told me.

"Wow. You hear that, Moony? You better watch that girlfriend of yours," I told him, nudging his shoulder.

"Yeah, she's not my girlfriend, nor will she ever be."

"We know that, but does she?" James said, pondering. I lifted an eyebrow, but kept my eyes on the desk in front of me.

The professor stood from his desk, apparently having just finished reading James' note. "Today we will be studying Boggarts." He told us.

"Er, sir, we studied Boggarts in fourth year," I spoke up.

"Oh well, we're studying them again today."

"Right," I muttered.

"So, form a line! Form a line!" The exercise had been lots of fun the last time, so I dragged the two up to the front of the line, calling in a favor or two to do so. "Ah, the infamous Marauders!" the professor called loudly. "Step up, step up!"

Moony stepped up to the Boggart, and, without even waiting to have the Boggart, currently in the form of a snake, turn into the one thing he was afraid of, muttered, "_Riddikulus!"_ and walked away as the full moon turned into a fluffy pillow. I walked forward, rolling my eyes as Remus sat down at his seat. The Boggart transformed into my mother.

I shivered, but before she could start screeching about pure blood I said loudly, "_Riddikulus!"_ and my mother became a bird from an enchanted cuckoo clock. I chuckled at my own humor and patted James on the shoulder as he stepped up to the Boggart.

He looked slightly apprehensive. The cuckoo clock stopped chiming and became fuzzy around the edges as the Boggart changed shape.

Every single person in the classroom, especially James, stood horrifyingly transfixed at the Boggart as it evolved into the bloody, mangled corpse of Lily Evans.

James' POV

Words could never describe how I felt then. It was the final straw. I may have said thousands of times before that I loved Lily Evans, but until I realized what it would feel like to see her like that, to not have her with me, I didn't even know what love was. Love wasn't just affection: it makes loss unbearably harder.

I walked up to the professor, my voice shaking, the Boggart still lying bloody on the floor.

"P-Professor? C-could I ha-have a p-pass to the Hospit-tal W-wing?"

"Um…yes, of course, Mr. Potter," he said, staring fixedly at the corpse on the floor. I cleared my throat and took the pass he hastily handed to me, and I nearly sprinted out the door.

Staircase after staircase, portrait after portrait, classroom after classroom, I couldn't get rid of the image of Lily lying there like that. And for some reason it felt like my fault she was dead. Of course, she wasn't dead, and I was being stupid. She was upstairs in the capable hands of Madam Pomfrey and I was about to see her. But I just couldn't get that picture out of my head…it might possibly be there forever. Panicking, and feeling slightly deranged, I ran faster up the stairs. I burst through the doors loudly, thrusting my note at Madam Pomfrey, who stood by the door about to protest.

"Lily!" I yelled and ran to her bedside.

"J-James!" she looked startled. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, I just needed to be with you, to make sure you're okay."

"R-really?" Tears shined in her eyes. "That's really sweet," she paused. "But you probably wouldn't want to see me."

"What?" I was confused. "Why?" I hadn't noticed she'd been covering her mouth and she'd pulled the hood of her robes up over her hair.

"Because," she said, taking off her hood and moving her hand. Her lips were puffy and swollen and her hair had turned a questionable shade of mossy green. She grimaced. "Side-effects of the antidote," she told me sheepishly. "And part of my allergy to the gillyweed."

"Oh," I told her, sitting on the bed.

"I understand if…you know…you want to leave?"

"Leave? Why? I came here to be with you, and you're still you no matter your hair color!" I said, tucking her hair behind her right ear.

Now the tears in her eyes welled up quickly. "You really _do _love me…" she mumbled, for some reason looking absolutely miserable.

"Of course I do, I've told you." I told her, squeezing her hand in both of mine.

She suddenly started sobbing uncontrollably. "L-Lily?" I asked, unsure.

"I don't deserve you!" she sobbed, putting her head in her free hand and looking completely devastated.

"I—um—"

"I really don't! I don't deserve love! What've I ever done? I'm just…_unworthy_!"

"Lily," I crooned, taking her face in my hands. "Of course you deserve love! What would make you think otherwise?"

"I don't know!" she sobbed. I looked curiously at Madam Pomfrey who'd walked up to the bed beside me.

"Mood swings," she explained to me. "Another side-effect."

"Oh," I mumbled. "That explains it."

"Just…stay. Don't worry about anything, I'll clear it with your professors."

"Thank you, but why—"

"Why am I being so nice?" she smirked. "She's been asking for you since she woke up, about five minutes after you left."

"Really?"

"Yes, Potter. Now, you might want to tend to your girlfriend, she is still ruining the bed sheets with salt water."

"Oh, right. Well, thank you, Madam Pomfrey,"

"Yes dear. If her condition changes, I'll be in my office." I nodded.

"Lily, come on," I said quietly.

"N-n-no," she choked. "I-I c-can't. I'm n-not worthy, b-but I l-love y-you, and I w-want to b-be around y-you, I j-j-just wish I c-could be m-more w-worthy of y-you!"

I slid up on the bed so I was sitting next to her and held her in my arms, burying my head in her hair. I held her until she quieted down to where she could talk without stuttering. "I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I don't know what came over me." She seemed to think for a second. "Actually, I'm not sure what happened, I just know I was crying. What did I say?" I looked stunned.

"Y-you don't remember anything that just happened?" Funny that I should be the one stuttering now.

"No. Oh, was it terribly embarrassing?" she blushed.

"Well, you said that you don't think you're worthy of me," I scoffed. "As if. You also said that you want to be around me and that…that you loved me."

"Oh. So the answer would be yes." I smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you really feel that way? You can tell me anything, it's just the two of us." Lily looked at me and looked down at her hands, which I took in mine, my arms still around her.

"Well, er…yes. Yes, I do." Her eyes widened. "Godric, I can't believe I just said that."

I'm not entirely sure why, but I busted into laughter right about then. When my laughter finally subsided into uncontrollable giggles, I gasped at her shocked face, "I'm—sorry, it's just—that's how—I've felt—_every time_—you turned me—down and—my self-confidence—has been nothing—for years and—that's how—_you_ felt?" I started laughing again. After my attempt at words, Lily seemed thoughtful instead of just confused and irritated.

"Really?" she asked, seeming honestly curious. I stopped laughing a second later.

"Well how else am I supposed to feel? I'm in love with the most beautiful, smartest, funniest, kindest, most charming girl in the world, and she kept turning me down! I figured there had to be something wrong with me, right?"

"No, I'm sorry, James! It was…it was sort of me all along."

"What?" I was suddenly confused.

"Well, I've only hated you—I think—because I've…maybe I've liked you…" I raised my eyebrows. "And…I think that I've just been afraid, or intimidated—"

"Intimidated? What?"

"Oh, come on, James. Do you seriously think that Violet's the only other girl in the school who likes you? I can name twelve off the top of my head! And you don't exactly have the best reputation, what with you being friends with Sirius Black, and lots of people would think you're a total womanizer because of how you guys always act, and how am I supposed to know that if we got together you wouldn't dump me a week later for a blonde from Ravenclaw because you'd reached your goal of winning me over and now you're ready to move on?" she was gasping for breath by the end of her rant.

"Um… I don't think I've ever heard you say so many words at once or say them so angrily," I managed.

"James? I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I um…I just need a minute."

I sat back on the bed for a second, just watching her curiously. She sat, looking at her hands. "Can I _ever _prove that I'm not the complete jerk I'm obviously put out to be?"

"James –" she whispered.

"No, Lily, I guess I understand, but—"

"I really do love you, James!"

That was it. We stayed the rest of the day in the Hospital Wing. Alice came up to visit once and to bring us our homework, saying that if we stayed here again, Frank would bring the homework tomorrow. Then she kissed Lily on the cheek, patted my back and left. Madam Pomfrey sent me back to the Common Room at nine thirty, saying she was being more than generous. I kissed Lily on her swollen lips and told her I'd see her tomorrow.

Hands down, this had to be the best, and the worst, day of my life.

Violet's POV

"Okay, Miranda, what'd you hear?" I asked the third year Ravenclaw excitedly. She was Frieda's cousin, so I'd asked her to spy on what happened in the Hospital Wing today, promising her three sickles.

"Well unfortunately," she said loudly. "It didn't take long for Madam Pomfrey to heal my arm, so I had to just stay outside to listen. But James came back during first period, and he hasn't left all day."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"You're not serious?"

"But I am!"

"Oh, no!"

"Unfortunately, yes!"

"Awwww man!"

"I know, right?"

I sighed unhappily. "So…what did they say?"

"Oh, there was a bunch of crap they talked about, but the really juicy stuff came right after first period."

"Like…what juicy stuff?" I asked remorsefully.

"Well, they pretty much professed their love to each other, got really deep into emotions and stuff, he called her—" she pulled out a notepad. "—beautiful, smart, funny, kind, and charming."

"Aw! I can be gorgeous, a genius, comedian, saint, and gentlewoman!" I yelled at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, we all know how wonderful you are. Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yes," I told her apathetically. "You may go now."

"Yes, ma'am," she muttered.

I rolled my own eyes and turned to Frieda. "Did you hear that?" I asked her disbelievingly.

"Hear…what?" she asked, applying mascara to her already fake-looking eyelashes.

"He still loves her! Why? She looks hideous! Green hair, puffy lips, it's all horrible, and he's still head over heels! I don't get it!" I squealed at her angrily.

"Oh, it's okay, sweetie! Give him time! He'll realize the error of his ways and come _sprinting_ to you!"

"You're right," I said, taking deep breaths. "I just have to wait it out. And I'll take that time to come up with a Plan B." She nodded approvingly. "And possibly a C, D, E, F, and G." Freida looked at me, startled. "Hey, I have a lot of time, right?" I exclaimed in defense. She shrugged and went back to putting on her face.

And I would let James take all the time he needed. He may be a fool for Lily Evans, but when he realized it was _me _he loved, he'd be a complete moron.

**DISCLAIMER: I certainly do not own Harry Potter or anything you recognize, I only own the plot.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ooh, this is where things start to get interesting! Right now I think we're looking at about twelve chapters and an epilogue, but it could be longer, or just a bit shorter, hopefully not the latter. This chapter was AWESOMELY fun for me to write, and I swear that those three thousand, seven hundred words flew out of my fingers in about twenty minutes! It was so fast and so FUN, and I cannot wait to have more chapters out as soon as the site will allow!**

**-Hailey (Potternerd1997)**


	6. Mission: Impossible

**A/N: So sorry I'm late with this! My life has been absolutely insane for a while, but hopefully I'll be back on track now, okay? Chapter 7 will be up on August 13 **

Chapter 6: Mission: Impossible

James' POV

That week had to be the best week of my life. I would sit in the Hospital Wing all day with my favorite person in the world, talking, doing homework, getting to know each other, playing board games, and doing whatever we wanted. Well, of course, we had restrictions: neither of us could leave (especially Lily) without Madam Pomfrey knowing, we were not allowed to do any more than a few small charms, we couldn't go into her office, and we could not bring any students into the Wing with us. We were fine with that, though. Apart from a few spells for the sake of amusement, we didn't need any magic. Why would we want to leave? We were together, and all we needed was each other.

Lily's lips went back to normal after about six days, and her hair started to go back to its original red when I'd been visiting her for nine days. Madam Pomfrey told us that she wanted to keep Lily two more days, just to make sure the treatment worked and to make sure the gillyweed wasn't having any lasting effects in her system. That meant eleven days, one day more than last time. On day four, Lily was startled when she woke up to be surrounded by stuffed animals and flowers that I had sent. When I showed up right after breakfast, she slapped the back of my head sternly, but smiled and kissed me anyway. She was just trying to be humble and didn't want to really show the appropriate appreciation for the overload of gifts. By request, Alice and I rounded up all of the flowers and teddy bears and took them, armful by armful, to Lily's dorm. Rather, Alice carried them and I just made them into nice, equal piles.

Today was the last day, Lily's eleventh day, in the Hospital Wing. We were lying in Lily's bed reading the _Daily Prophet _and looking for anything possibly interesting to read. "Ah, here's something!" Lily exclaimed, pointing to an article. "It says, 'New Advisor to the Minister Appointed.'"

"No, that's not interesting, Lily! That's coma-inducing!" she laughed loudly, startling the fourth year Hufflepuff boy on the other side of the room, who had been asleep. He glared at us quickly, then closed his eyes and rolled onto his side. Lily and I laughed in whispers as we waited for the kid to fall back asleep.

"Is he under yet?" she asked me.

"I'll go check." I walked over to the bed and looked at the face of the still Hufflepuff. "Yes."

"Oh, good!" she relaxed. She scowled at the _Prophet _for a moment, and then tossed it onto the floor in boredom.

"So nothing good today, then?"

"Nope," she said sadly.

"Aw," I said unsympathetically. I looked at my watch. "And it's only 9:30! Whatever will we do for twelve hours?" I asked sarcastically.

"Funny," she smirked.

"Well, in my Magical Bag O' Potter," she giggled as I pulled out my purple bag with the shiny silver stars on it. "I have brought to you, lady, hmmm…" I dug around in the bag dramatically. "Exploding Snap," I drew out a pack of the magical cards. "Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans," I handed her a box of the candy. "And paper and pencils," I told her. She raised her eyebrows. "Sorry!" I told her defensively. "I got less creative today, and there was paper in my bag, so…"

"It's fine, we can make little cartoons!"

"Cartoons? Like, the Muggle shows with the rabbit and the bird?"

"Yes, something like that."

"Oh, fun!" I said over-excitedly. She laughed and smacked my arm playfully.

I brought over the two lap-desks by the wall and sat down on the edge of the bed facing Lily.

"Hmm…what should I draw?" I asked her.

"I don't know. What's your favorite animal?"

I smirked and said, "A stag." She looked at me curiously but said nothing about the stag.

"Okay…what's your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Favorite place?"

"Hospital Wing."

"Well, there you go! Draw a green stag in the Hospital Wing. The magic in the pencils will make the picture move like the portraits on the walls."

"Hmm. I didn't know these could do that."

"You wouldn't. But those are the pencils I slipped into your 'Magical Bag O' Potter' last night."

"Oh," I grimaced.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, just drawing and barely moving. When I was finished, I held up my picture to Lily. "Ta-da!" She laughed. It was a stag that looked like a cow in a hospital bed with a thermometer in his mouth. There was a voice bubble that said, "M-O-O!" I loved the sound of her laugh and joined in. She held up her drawing a minute later. It was a pink and red heart that swelled until it burst into colorful confetti that, when it settled at the bottom of the page, said "J+L." I leaned over and kissed her gently.  
>"Here," she said, handing me the picture.<p>

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." She told me. I handed her my picture, too.

"I thought it was supposed to be a stag," she told me, curious.

"Well, I realized that when the hooves were bigger than its head, it should be a cow."

She laughed again. "I love cows," she said, smiling. "And I am going to hang it up right…" she waved her wand to cast a sticking charm on the paper to the wall. "Here," It hung on the wall right next to her pillow. "I think that's a good place for it."

Violet's POV

Ah, this was it. Lily Evans came out of the Hospital Wing today and one of two things would happen: James would come running to me, or it would be time to put Plan B into action. And the sweet air of the crisp Monday morning would help me. Well, hopefully, anyway, 'cause I didn't have much going for me.

I waited by the door to the Hospital Wing before class, hoping that I would still have enough time to run if I waited for James. I heard a bunch of loud laughing from behind the doors, and then out stepped James and Evans, their arms around each other. They apparently didn't notice me, for they never stopped chatting and laughing.

"It's your first day out of hospice care, love. How do you feel?"

"Great!" Lily took a deep breath.

"Well, that's good. Let's head back to class; I'm sure Alice and Sirius and the rest have missed us in class."

"How much time do we have?" she asked. He held out his wrist to her and she took it. "Ah, nine minutes. We've got time." They walked leisurely to the end of the corridor and turned onto a staircase, laughing again over something I hadn't heard.

My heart close to broken, I headed for my own class. I was devastated, but with an air of satisfaction, I thought, _Time for Plan B. _

Sirius' POV

"Seems like there's not much need for Mission: Together anymore, huh, Remus?" I asked sarcastically as James and Lily walked through the door to Defense Against the Dark Arts, holding hands.

"Doesn't seem like it now, but you wait. Numerous things could happen…" he said mysteriously. "And there could be a need for a Mission: Together again."

I was suddenly curious. "Like what?"

"I just have this…feeling," Moony told me vaguely. "I just…I don't know. But we need to have some tricks up our sleeves, Sirius, especially with Violet becoming a large factor in this relationship. She's extremely jealous and apparently won't stop at anything to get to James."

"That's true, Little Miss Perky's becoming a problem," I said thoughtfully. "And what about her friend, er…whatever her name was. She could be helping Violet. And she could soon be trying some of the same things with you."

"She couldn't do anything like that to me. I don't have a girl I'm after, she would think she'd have a chance, and she doesn't know anything personal about me…to the best of my knowledge… After all, these two girls seem to be some perfect little stalkers."

"Mr. Black? Mr. Lupin? Do you have something you'd like to share with the class?"

"No, sir," we mumbled together.

"Let's continue this conversation on parchment," Moony whispered to me. He took out a spare sheet of parchment and wrote,

_Can we be sure that something like this won't happen again?_

I looked at the note and decided what to write.

_No, we can't be, but it doesn't mean we should get too paranoid. If they think we're onto them, they may not give us the clues we need to get them. _

_What exactly do you mean by "get them?" _

_Get them turned in, possibly. To McGonagall, but maybe even Dumbledore. If it gets more serious than this, though, and we have proof, then they may even be arrested for something as large as assault or attempted murder._

_That's true. Even if Lily's allergy to the gillyweed wasn't fatal, whatever she tries next might be. We need 'round the clock surveillance. _

I suddenly had an idea. Oh, Remus would _not _like this! I looked at him, my eyes wide, and he registered my expression, snatching the parchment back.

_What, Sirius? Do you have an idea?_

_Oh, you bet I have an idea! We need surveillance? YOU can be the surveillance. _

_What? _

_Flora. You could be her boyfriend! It'll keep you on the inside loop! You could have all the information we need on them!_

_No. Never. You've GOT to be kidding me. _

_Would I kid you, buddy?_

_Yes. _

_But you do know I'm not kidding about this…?_

_Yes._

_Ooh, does that mean you agree?_

_No._

_Of course not._

_Just…consider MY side!_

_What? You get a girlfriend? What's the bad part of that?_

_THE GIRLFRIEND!_

_You always look at the negative!_

_There's almost nothing BUT negative involved here!_

_Come on, we NEED you to do this!_

_No! This is Mission: Together, not Mission: Impossible!_

The rustling of the paper being passed back and forth was making quite a din, and people were starting to notice. Actually, everybody had noticed. Unbeknownst to us, everyone in the classroom, including James, Lily, Alice and the professor, were staring at us questioningly. We only finally looked up because of the fire that suddenly engulfed the paper. But then we noticed that the professor was coming up our aisle, coming to look at the note, I realized: whoever had cast that spell had saved our hides. I looked up and around the classroom, looking for our savior. There was still a piece of paper with the words, "Just…consider MY side!" on it, and with a mutter of _"Incendio!" _Lily got rid of the remaining evidence.

_Thank you, _I mouthed.

_Anytime, _she mouthed back, winking. Sweet. My mate's girlfriend was bloody brilliant!

Lily's POV

My first day back to classes went smashingly. Thankfully, not literally. I spent the whole day going class to class with James, except for Potions, when he was in Divination. When I asked why he was bothering with a study so unrealistic and worthless, he smiled defensively and said, "It was a quick A, and with the grades I've got in the rest of my classes, I needed a good grade in _one _class!"

"Yes, but notice!" I'd pointed at the grade card we'd been given at the end of Herbology. "Since we've been doing homework, your grades have gone up," I touched his nose with my index finger and he smiled.

"Maybe we should be doing homework together more often. Tonight? Care of Magical Creatures? Common Room?"

"It's a date!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "Though I hope to spend every moment in-between now and then with you."

"Wonderful, I'd had just the same idea."

Yeah, that was how my day went, and it was…how would Violet say…fantabulous. No, I don't like that word. It was splendiferous. Yes, I like that one!

Oh, how I wish it could've lasted!

Violet's POV

In Divination class that day, I'd asked Professor Trelawney about Plan B. Well, not really. I didn't tell her about James, or Lily, or anything. I'd just asked her about the future. "Professor?" I'd said. "Will my immediate endeavors succeed?"

"Oh, Violet, you've caught me on a good day! I'm very close to the beyond, very connected, indeed."

"Wonderful."

"I can show you, in the crystal ball…" she'd said mysteriously.

"Fantastic." She pushed the crystal ball on my table into the center and spoke some words that sounded like gibberish. From the smoke in the crystal appeared an image. It was James! And me, and… he was saying…something… Oh, you could hear it now!

"Of course I'll be your boyfriend, Violet!" he cried at me. I gasped quietly in my seat.

"Oh, did you get your answer, dearest?"

"Yes! I did, professor, thank you!"

"Quite welcome, my sweet, anytime."

Ha! So I would be successful! Plan B was to be carried out tonight!

Lily's POV

It was a great night, too. Just after dinner, James, Lupin, Sirius and I came back to the common room to do homework, James and I sharing an arm chair as there was only three. We talked and laughed for a while, finally settling down to do our homework when Remus' bag fell over and the papers spilled out. "Okay, I think that's a sign that we need to get started," he'd said, and everyone had agreed and hastily gotten out their homework.

We were in the middle of History of Magic work when I suddenly realized I didn't know the people around me. My mind seemed to go completely blank and I felt a small stab of pain in my head. I closed my eyes to try to help alleviate it, and when I opened my eyes, I was utterly flustered, not sure why I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with three strange boys.

"Hey, Lils, do you know the answer to number twenty-six?" asked the boy who was sharing a chair with me.

"E-excuse m-me?" I stuttered.

"Lily, are you alright? You look scared," the sad-looking boy across from me asked.

"I am. Who are you all?"

"Lily, stop joking around," the boy next to him. "You're gonna give James a heart attack."

"James?"

"Yeah, your boyfriend? The bloke you're sharing a chair with? Him." I looked to the boy next to me, who was apparently James, my…boyfriend? He was looking at me concernedly with wide eyes. Like someone who was seeing their dog dying or a family member leave. Like he loved what he was looking at.

I tried to remember everything, from my first year at Hogwarts to now. I remembered lots, almost too much, but not these three boys. "Remus, maybe there really is something wrong," James told the sad-looking boy.

"I don't know. Give me a second." He seemed to look around the room subtly, searching for something unknown to me. "Aha," he whispered. He took out his wand from his pocket and whispered, _"Expelliarmus!" _to an unseen source in the corner of the room, behind a large caladium.

A wand flew out and into his hand, and a blond girl came running out from behind the plant yelling, "Hey!"

"_Prior Incantatem," _muttered the boy named Remus to the wand. He studied the wand for a minute. "She cast a selective Memory Charm on Lily. She doesn't know any of us." Then he directed his words to me. "Do you know who Alice is?"

"Yes, she's my best friend."

"Okay, she knows some of us. Where are you?"

"The Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts."

"Good. What's your name?"

"Lily Evans," I was starting to get annoyed.

"Okay, she just doesn't remember us."

He cast a quick charm on me that I didn't know and I looked at James. My head felt funny and I didn't know why the Marauders were looking at me with expressions of conflict, concern and bemusement on their faces. "James, what happened?"

"Violet cast a Memory Charm on you that made you forget us…" He sounded unsure, like he wasn't positive I was all there.

"Oh," I said, confused. "Wait, then where's Violet?" We looked around, confused.

"I don't know," James muttered. "Damn. She must've run off."

"Jeez, I have a headache!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I've heard having your memory modified, even just once, can do that." Remus told me quietly.

"How about we leave the homework until tomorrow night? We have what we need to turn in tomorrow." James suggested, wrapping his arm around me.

"Yeah, let's do that," said Sirius, throwing the rest of his belongings into his bag. I smiled and leaned back against James. "Well, I actually _am _tired, with all the pain potions I'm taking for my arm," Sirius told us, standing up.

"I'll go with you, then." Remus stood up with Sirius and they waved to us. We waved back, and just sat there a minute.

"Do you think Violet is getting too serious?" I asked him quietly, in case Violet was listening.

"Definitely," James said at the same volume.

"Do you think she'll try again?"

"Definitely," he said again. "But I'll try to protect you the best I can. For some reason, she seems fixed on only tormenting you; she doesn't want to hurt me." He rolled his eyes. "Crazy stalker." I smirked, but the fear came and took over my mind again.

"This plan didn't seem very…foolproof," I said, searching for the correct term. "I mean, it was a simple idea with a simple fix. I would have thought she'd have something more complicated in mind, after the gillyweed."

"Maybe she's just not that imaginative?" James suggested with a smile.

I smiled too. But a bit fearfully, I asked, "What else do you think she'll try?"

"Hard to know. She seems to have quite a few ideas, the question is if any of them will work."

"This one didn't."

"We were expecting something."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Remus and Sirius and I talked about it during Divination."

"So you've got them doing undercover surveillance now?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Well, with you three around, I don't have much to fear, now do I?"

"Nothing at all."

**DISCLAIMER: Oh, yeah, I own Harry Potter. No, I don't own Harry Potter, everything even remotely recognizable belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ah, everything's better now! Maybe… Violet's a tricky character for me to write, really. At first the words just spilled, but now they crawl from my fingers to the computer. I always hesitate just a moment to find what I think Violet would really say, which I think is good. It's the whole, "Think before you speak" sort of thing, and I think Violet's character is well-suited to how I imagine her. The next chapter shall be up before you know it!**

**-Pathway**


End file.
